Monday, 23 November 2009

Odin and Frigg sat in Hlithskjolf and looked over all the worlds: a recently-discovered Viking-age silver figurine

Óðinn ok Frigg sátu í Hliðskjálfu ok sá um heima alla.

(from the prose introduction to the Grímnismál in the Poetic/Elder Edda)

"Odin and Frigg sat in the Hlithskolf ("Gate-Shelf") and looked over all the worlds."

This small figurine, which was found by the local amateur archaeologist Tommy Olesen on 2 September 2009 during Roskilde Museum’s excavations at the small village Gammel Lejre, is the first Viking-age depiction of Odin in his seat Hliðskjálfu:

Odin (Óðinn) figurine found in Lejre

(silver with inlays of niello)

[early 10th century]

Weight: 9 grams

Height: 17.5 mm

Width: 19.8 mm

Depth: 12.4 mm

Odin enthroned on his seat Hliðskjálf, from which he may see into all the worlds.

Notable features:

Left-eye appears to be damaged ["Old One-Eye"].

Two ravens sit on the throne [Odin's ravens: Huginn ("Thought") and Muginn ("memory")].

This is the first early depiction of Odin on his throne Hliðskjálf ("gate-bench"?, "protection-bench"?).

The representation of Odin with both ravens and wolves is symbolic of his status as Valföðr "Father/Lord of the Slain" (as in Völuspá 1). Ravens and wolves (along with eagles) are a Germanic convention for representing the death and destruction of the battlefield. This "Beasts of Battle" theme (Magoun[1]) often appears in Germanic poetry, as in the following selection from Beowulf, from the end of the speech of the messenger who comes to tell the Geats of Beowulf's fall during his fight with the dragon. The messenger predicts that without the protection of their king, the Geats will be slaughtered by their enemies (Old English wæl is cognate with Norse val):

Forðon sceall gār wesan

monig morgencealdmundum bewunden,

hæfen on handa, nalles hearpan swēg

wīgend weccean ac se wonna hrefn

fūs ofer fǣgum fela reordian,

earne secgan hū him æt ǣte spēow

þenden hē wið wulf wæl rēafode.

Beowulf ll.3021b-27b

Therefore, many a spear,

morning-chilled, shall be grasped in hand,

held in fists;no sound of harp

will waken the warriors, but rather the black raven,

eager above the doomed, will have much to say,

to recount to the eagle, of how he feasted to the full

when he and the wolflooted the field of the slain.

For more on this figurine, see these pages from the Roskilde Museum in Denmark: here and here.